Giving Kids Some Autonomy Has Surprising Results

The New York Times ^ | Jan. 2, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET | Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In a polarized nation, one point of agreement deserves more attention: Young adults say they feel woefully unprepared for life in the work force, and employers say they’re right.

In a survey by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation of more than 4,000 members of Gen Z, 49 percent of respondents said they did not feel prepared for the future. Employers complain that young hires lack initiative, communication skills, problem-solving abilities and resilience.

There’s a reason the system isn’t serving people well, and it goes beyond the usual culprits of social media and Covid. Many recent graduates aren’t able to set targets, take initiative, figure things out and deal with setbacks — because in school and at home they were too rarely afforded any agency.

Giving kids agency doesn’t mean letting them do whatever they want. It doesn’t mean lowering expectations, turning education into entertainment or allowing children to choose their own adventure. It means requiring them to identify and pursue some of their own goals, helping them build strategies to reach those goals, assessing their progress and guiding them to course-correct when they fall short.

This approach works because it teaches kids strategies they’ll need to succeed in work and life — and keeps them invested, too. But a survey of over 66,000 young people that we conducted with the Brookings Institution and the education nonprofit Transcend showed that very few middle and high school students regularly have the opportunity to work this way. Only 33 percent of 10th graders report that they get to develop their own ideas in school. The result? In third grade, 74 percent of kids say they love school. By 10th grade, it’s 26 percent. School feels like prison, many teenagers told us over three years of research. The more time they spend...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“young hires lack initiative, communication skills, problem-solving abilities and resilience.”

On the other hand, they like to come in late, leave early, complain about the challenging workload and grouse about low pay.

[No name given]

That’s because they’re spoiled brats.

[ridesthemiles]

PARTICIPATION TROPHIES -—LEGACY

[mikesmad]

Exactly. My kids had to do chores starting very young - pick up toys for example. As they got older they still had chores to do that were unpaid. They got an allowance or payment for more complex chores as they got older. Then they all had to get part time jobs at 16 or 17 to learn about work, earning money, saving money, cost of living. Had to pay for some things they wanted out of their earned money. We were not perfect but by the time we got to our third child he paid for his own college, cars, gas, entertainment and saves like crazy.

Too many kids do nothing today. Not held responsible for anything.

[PGR88]

I sometimes drive through PA Amish country

I see kids who look to be 9-10 years-old on tractors plowing fields.

[alternatives?]

If families were larger, it would force the issue. You can’t spoil ten kids.

[mikey_hates_everything]

Giving kids autonomy has surprising results? All you got to do is look at Boomers and Gen X who were kids in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s with a lot of autonomy and see how that went compared to what we have now entering the work force.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I have had the same thought. A country full of one-child families. What could possibly go wrong?

[mewzilla]

Pick up a McGuffey Reader.

Those kids were alright.

[Organic Panic]

“In third grade, 74 percent of kids say they love school”

I HATED School. Every day of it until I got to college. It is little more than a prison. You’re forced to be there with people you don’t like, listen to things you don’t want to hear, and given punishments for the smallest infraction. I can’t tell you how many “Defiance of Authority” referrals I had. Oh the teachers so wanted to flunk me but I ended up with straight A’s in high school.

[goodnesswins]

When my som turned 13 (1983) I took him out for a special dinner and told him he, as a teen would be considered an adult and that he should behave as such. (I’m his Mom.) The following year I moved to adjoining state (his dad and I had joint custody). His “dad” did everything possible to make sure I did not see him. But, I persevered. It was a rough few years. He turned into a great husband and father...and worked hard too. Now Oper. Mgr of $24 million construction company.

[goodnesswins]

Son

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You’re forced to be there with people you don’t like, listen to things you don’t want to hear, and given punishments for the smallest infraction.

You can thank the Prussians for that.

[A Navy Vet]

"because in school and at home they were too rarely afforded any agency."

Goody. A new WOKE term for a failed generation of spoiled uneducated brats. Still, I put most of the blame on the schools, their Boards, and their awful destructive WOKENESS through DEI policies.

Just read some School District is doing away with homework because it puts to much pressure on the widdle babies. Unbelievable.

I say eliminate the Department of Education. No more Fed money. Let the States control and pay for their schools. Or better yet, County School Boards. Once those Boards answer only to the parents, much of this crap will self-correct through local lawsuits and the activism by parents.

[jroehl]

Posting NY Times articles is like posting memos from the DNC. It is my contention that when we do this we are legitimizing them as a news source. The conservative media has to stop doing this.

[Vaduz]

No wonder car washes always have new people

[Migraine]

Grade 1
“In Adam’s fall, we finned all.” (the esses looked like effs in the typeset, you may recall.)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

File a complaint and have me banned.

You’d be doing me a favor. I spend way too much time.

I am not like you. I get bored reading only things I agree with. The things that get my juices flowing are things I don’t agree with. I post Leftie sources under that topic “humor” to indicate that they are not to be taken seriously.

I am not going to stop. If it bothers you so much, have me banned.

[MayflowerMadam]

My BIL had pics of him working on one of the farm’s tractors when he was 7.

Most of the farmers’ kids in our church growing up were driving the heavy equipment before they were 10. At the end of the day they were “plinking” with their very own guns.